The Fairy: From the Traveling Merchant

Chapter 1006 Return
After looking at the map for a while and memorizing all the details, Zhao Chen and Ming Hongyue had looted all the valuable items in the villa.

Of course, there were also some items in the Sky Keep at the top of the mountain as "challenge" rewards, but most of them were just ordinary magical artifacts, which even Ming Hongyue didn't care about, let alone Zhao Chen.

Compared to the rewards, the mirror that allows for the arbitrary adjustment of the "rules" of the mountain checkpoints is clearly more attractive to Ming Hongyue.

After manipulating and "playing" with the mirror for a while, she said with lingering interest, "The 'rules' on the mountain are just a rudimentary application of 'law and reason,' much like a concrete manifestation of how cultivators with supernatural powers refine their inner world..."

"It's somewhat similar to the secret realm formed by the inner world of a cultivator with supernatural powers after death, but it's not quite the same... In a sense, could this fantasy world be the inner landscape of 'Xuantian' itself?"

No, the true inner world of Xuantian is probably those natural blessed lands, grotto heavens, or special worlds like the "underworld" or the "heart realm"... And these fantasy worlds that carry faith may not be what Xuantian was born with, otherwise the fantasy worlds would not be called "other dimensions"!
"Other dimensions," as the name suggests, refers to external objects that are different from Xuan Tian.

After all, there was no mention of the existence of a "god of faith" before the Jia Shen Heavenly Anomaly. This suggests that both faith and the fantasy world nurtured by Xuan Tian himself may have been products of that heavenly anomaly.

Of course, there is another possibility: that Xuan Tian's "fantasy world" was created by the "Star God". After all, this big shot originally occupied the concept of "other dimension", so it was not difficult for him to add something to Xuan Tian.

Perhaps the Star God modifies "Xuantian" as easily and casually as we adjust the rules of this "fantasy world" now.

While Zhao Chen was lost in thought, he remained noncommittal on the surface, saying, "Perhaps... However, I suspect that these 'fantasy worlds' are likely the templates used by most 'weirdities' to create 'weird domains'."

He decided to tell Ming Hongyue some useful information, and also to test the waters and see if he could get some information out of the "birdman" deep in her mind.

Ming Hongyue was very clever. She only paused for a moment before understanding Zhao Chen's meaning. She pretended to be interested and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I suspect that Xuan Tian's many 'fantasy worlds' are actually hidden in the deepest part of the 'Dark Domain'."

“And these kinds of evil spirits, the ‘weird,’ almost all hide in the ‘dark domain.’ Most of them are irrational and only instinctively plunder ‘knowledge’ from the ‘dark domain’ to improve themselves. And those ‘fantasy worlds’ are corrupted by faith and have distorted rules, so they are probably very attractive to the ‘weird.’” Zhao Chen said, while staring intently at Ming Hongyue’s face.

Unfortunately, the "birdman" seemed uninterested in this kind of topic, or perhaps he saw through Zhao Chen's probing and didn't respond.

Ming Hongyue shook her head slightly at Zhao Chen, then said thoughtfully, "No wonder most 'mysterious realms' are collections of chaotic rules, and many even display scenes of seemingly alien civilizations."

"But unfortunately, 'mysterious domains' are generally not very powerful; even low-grade cultivators with supernatural abilities can break through them..."

"Well, given the current level of 'rules' in this fantasy world, it's true that without someone in charge, it can't stop cultivators with supernatural powers."

Although there have been instances in history of "mysterious realms" capable of trapping and killing "Dongxuan" level cultivators, they are extremely rare within the Great Xia Dynasty, with perhaps only one such case occurring every two or three thousand years. Seeing that the "birdman" was so composed, Zhao Chen was not disappointed. In any case, once he was fully prepared, he would be able to communicate with Him face-to-face sooner or later and "investigate" His background.

As they chatted about the "secrets of heaven and earth," the two left Fairy Mingguang's villa and returned to the steep mountain wall.

At this moment, Ming Hongyue stopped and looked at Zhao Chen with her bright eyes, as if asking him how to get back.

Zhao Chen smiled slightly and summoned the Key of Dawn from the "Old Starship". He exerted force on his wrist and slowly turned it, and a pitch-black door that seemed neither real nor illusory appeared in front of the two of them.

The next moment, the door opened by itself, revealing the endless darkness inside, and a stone staircase leading into the depths of darkness.

“As expected… since the ‘Fantasy World’ is deep within the ‘Dark Domain’, I can open a ‘Dark Domain Passage’ in this ‘Other Dimension’ to return to reality.” Zhao Chen nodded, first quietly retracting the “Lei Ji” who was secretly on guard, then taking Ming Hongyue’s hand and entering the double doors together, stepping onto the stone-paved path.

However, shortly after the two entered the passage, Zhao Chen discovered that this "passage" was different from the previous ones. For example, the malice in the surrounding darkness was more obvious, and he could even sense the terrifying aura approaching without extending his divine sense.

Zhao Chen sensed something and knew that he had to bring Hongyue back to reality as soon as possible, otherwise the "Black Domain Passage" would no longer be safe, and there might even be "Dongxuan" or "Shengxuan" beings descending upon it.

This is, after all, the depths of the "Dark Domain," unlike when we traveled through various parts of the Great Xia before, where we were only on the outer layer... Moreover, it is the outer layer within the range of the power of the "Zhou Tian Xing Chen Grand Array."

Upon realizing this, Zhao Chen immediately activated his "Great Sun Star Raft" divine power. Immediately afterward, a phantom of a "celestial raft" forged from stars, with a crescent shape and an overall shape resembling a long rocking chair, appeared out of thin air. It lifted Zhao and Ming's bodies and rushed along the direction of the "stone steps" at an extremely fast speed.

This is the "interdimensional travel" ability of the "Great Sun Star Chariot" supernatural power. If one were to use this supernatural power to open a "route", it would be extremely dangerous and could very likely violate "taboos". However, traveling in this passage opened by the "Key of Dawn" is both safe and fast.

"Even so, this passage to Beppu probably won't be usable for a while. Who knows how many terrifying things are lying in ambush here..."

As their thoughts raced, the "Immortal Raft" had already sent the two of them "flying" into the outer range of the "Zhou Tian Star Array"'s influence, indicating that they were not far from the reality of "Xuan Tian".

A moment later, the gate at the other end of the passage appeared before Zhao Chen. He quickly withdrew his supernatural power, then grabbed Ming Hongyue and crashed directly out of the "Black Domain".

The next moment, the two landed in a bathtub, splashing water everywhere, leaving a woman bathing there stunned.

This woman possessed an elegant demeanor and dignified bearing; even when naked, she exuded an aura of inviolability… She was none other than Feng Wan, who had stayed in Tianchuan City to cover for the princess!
As for why he ended up next to her? That's because opening the 'Dark Domain Passage' requires "one of our own" as a "beacon," and the "one of our own" closest to Mirror Village is naturally the youngest of the Seven Heroes of the Desert, "Snow Eagle Sword."

(End of this chapter)